Gov't Lawyer Charged with Hate Crimes re Claimed Anonymous Calls to Neighbors
Updated: A lawyer who has worked as an associate attorney for New York state government since 1993 and reportedly may have previously worked for a police department has been criminally charged with allegedly making racist, threatening calls to his neighbors in Albany.
James Hennessey Jr., a 58-year-old civil service department employee, is accused of threatening to kill a black woman and to kidnap a “little black boy,” the Times Union reports.
He allegedly tried to disguise his identity by using www.bluffmycall.com, but was traced through phone records obtained from a wireless provider and a cable company. He was charged with two counts of second-degree felony harassment.
As of Friday, there was no change in status for Hennessey with the agency, the newspaper says, also reporting that Hennessey makes a little over $104,000 a year there.
He posted $15,000 bond in the Albany City Court case and declined to comment when approached by a Times Union reporter.
Hennessey’s subsequent conviction was vacated in December 2014 because the hate-crime harassment statute was found to be unconstitutional in an unrelated case, according to an April 2016 appeals court decision in his bid for reinstatement to the bar.
Hennessey had previously sought to vacate his conviction on the ground that he suffers from a mental illness and was under the influence of psychotropic medications when he entered his guilty pleas. An appeals court said Hennessey should get a chance to prove his mental capacity was impaired and remanded the case in November 2013.
Updated April 19, 2023, at 12:52 p.m. to include subsequent developments.
